The difficulty with this consultation last time - or so I was led to believe - was that for some people who went with unrealistic expectations it was a let-down.
People expected to walk away with sketch plans - such a thing cannot happen AFAIK, since it could affectthe PI of the architect if someone had a problem proceeding on such plans.
My own sig at the end of my posts is a reminder of how limited the information presented on AAM can be and as a means of avoiding the trouble that you can get into when advising based on limited information.
Any remote advice offered must be put in terms which protect both the architect advising and the recipient.
This is to make sure they know the limits of 2nd hand information remote from the situation - it cannot yield "hard" designs or opinions.
These meetings therefore should be treated as introductory briefing meetings and any advice received viewed on an Initial Briefing Meeting basis.
Therefore, it cannot be definitive or result in a sketch design.
How useful this meeting will be to someone on a budget who's just handed over €50 is anyone's guess.
Its very easy to be open and unguarded in informal meetings and I think this is a danger area for inexperienced architects.
One of the reasons I stopped posting to Boards.ie was that the mods wouldn't let me post the sig below on each post to protect mysef having offered advice.
Another was that people were posting house plans out of context and seeking design review advice and the mods didn't seem to understand the dangers of posting 'freely'.
This guarded approach goes against the grain for most people, but I have come across people just waiting to pounce on an unguarded utterance or undertaking and make a claim of it.
I've taken over a project where a hue amount of fees were run up - with general approval of the client - where the design had to be started rfom scratch when the house was marked out on site.
It was only at that very late point that the office realised that the client had a difficulty in understanding drawings in terms of visualising the built work on site and its location.
This informed me about laypeople generally, but more importantly it informed me as to how best to deal with this client - everything was based on samples and sketches.
That way we were able to selected window profiles and door profiles and walk the site to show the client where the new design of the house would be.
Therefore by being circumspect in offering advice, you are protecting both the layperson and the architect from later claims and disuptes.
So by all means go to the Open Day and do a good deed and donate your €50 to a very deserving charity - Simon do great work.
You will meet many competent designers who will be able to offer experienced and competent advice to bring along any project you have.
The discussion will hopefully generate ideas which open up new possibilities in terms of how best to proceed with the project of your dreams.
But please understand that there are limits to the extent of the advice that can be offered and those limits are set to benefit both parties to any meeting.
Within those limits you can explore options and methods and approaches in addressing many changes to your house or other building.
By all means, come prepared, perhaps with photos and references, but just be prepared for a limited briefing to occur.
FWIW
ONQ.
[broken link removed]
All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.